Maine Voters Reject Referendum Requiring Voter ID

Maine is projected to reject a referendum question on Tuesday that would have required voters to show photo ID, along with other measures that opponents said could curb access to the ballot.

The Associated Press called the race on the ballot initiative known as Question 1, expecting it would fail.

“This victory belongs to the thousands of volunteers, many of them with our campaign, who left it all on the field to save absentee voting in Maine,” said Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for Maine’s 2026 Senate race, in a post Tuesday.

A coalition called Voter ID for ME, launched by the conservative Dinner Table PAC, gathered enough signatures to get the question onto the ballot to be directly considered by voters.

The ballot question addressed multiple matters that its backers said will help ensure secure voting. It asks: “Do you want to change Maine election laws to eliminate two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, end ongoing absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities, ban prepaid postage on absentee ballot return envelopes, limit the number of drop boxes, require voters to show certain photo ID before voting, and make other changes to our elections?”

Maine is one of 14 states, along with Washington, D.C., that allows people to vote without an ID. Question 1 dragged it into a nationwide fight over whether identification requirements and other measures that make voting easier also make it easier to commit voter fraud — something that’s very rare across the country. Thirty-six states have adopted laws requesting voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Montana, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana passed laws related to voter ID this year alone.

In Maine, supporters of Question 1 raised $585,000 as of Oct. 21, while opponents raised nearly $1.8 million, the Maine Morning Star reported. Out-of-state money flowed into this ballot issue on both sides, with major contributions against it from national organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Service Employees International Union and the National Education Association. Supporters of Question 1 include the Republican State Leadership Committee PAC, which has contributed more than $520,000 to Voter ID for ME.

Most state Democrats opposed the measure. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who is running for Senate in 2026, urged voters to oppose Question 1.

“This bill just makes it harder for Maine people to vote,” Mills said in an Oct. 10 statement. “Look, voting absentee is safe, it’s secure, and widely used across Maine.”

She said that 40% of Maine voters cast absentee ballots in 2024 and that a change to the law would make it harder to vote for older adults, people in rural areas, those with disabilities, military service members and other workers.

Backers of the measure said it is primarily about voter identification, and access to voting will not be limited due to the measure’s changes to absentee voting.

State Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart told the Maine Morning Star, “Despite scare tactics and lies by those who oppose Question 1, this referendum will not decrease the accessibility of absentee voting.”

Similarly, Alex Titcomb, cofounder of The Dinner Table PAC, told The Maine Monitor that the measure is about the “security and transparency of the election process.”

He said people should request their own ballots and that “every person that wants to cast a ballot will figure out how to cast a ballot.”